Schools in Sierra Leone are to reopen in March. Education Minister Minkailu Bah said that school fees would be subsidised for secondary school students to help parents. The ministry would also provide teaching and learning materials as well as ensuring schools were safe and disinfected.

State House sources say that President Koroma is also expected to announce an easing of restrictions on trading hours in the Western Area. Trading hours on Saturday will now end at 6:00 PM. But reports still indicate that the restrictions of trading on Sunday will remain the same.

The promising signs reported by health workers yesterday regarding the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone has taken a discouraging development this evening as official reports state that 18 people died today of Ebola and 24 new infections were equally recorded nationwide.

14 of today’s new infections are from Portloko and 7 are from Freetown and its environs.

Today’s development followed a single digit of 6 infections reported on Friday January 16, 2015; the lowest number in months.

Authorities in Sierra Leone yesterday announced that progress was being made against the virus.

Today’s statistics casts doubts on projections that the epidemic will be contained by the end of March as stated by President Koroma.

Sierra Leone continues to lead the chart on Ebola infections and deaths within the region.

Authorities in Sierra Leone said Ebola infection numbers and deaths have progressively gone down over the last two days.

On Friday, January 16, 2015 health officials in Freetown said only 6 new infections and 10 deaths were recorded compared to 16 new infections the previous day.

“This is the first single digit infection rate we have recorded in several months,” a health official at the Hastings Treatment Center said, adding that progress is being made against the virus in the country.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday January 15, 2015 that positive signs of containing the epidemic are emerging in the three most affected countries in West Africa.

The WHO statement follows a report of zero infections in Liberia for two consecutive days and the progressive decline of infection numbers in Sierra Leone this week.

Officials in Sierra Leone said a total of 2,127 people have so far survived the Ebola virus.